arts

As Los Angeles County leaders continue to reimagine the county’s juvenile justice system, they’re now looking to see if they can leverage the arts to help achieve reform goals. With a $750,000 one-year grant from the Ford Foundation’s Arts Justice Fund (AJF), the county Arts Commission will launch the Arts and Youth Development Project, which is designed to serve youth and families involved — or at risk of involvement — with the juvenile justice system.

New York City’s probation department and Carnegie Hall are touting a new report describing their arts initiative for youth as a “highly transformative,” model program. Over 2,300 young people from underserved city neighborhoods, about half of them on probation, have participated in filmmaking, painting, magazine production, and spoken word, music, or dance performance projects through the program, called NeON Arts, which launched in 2013.

In the warmly lit opening frame of a new film, a young man leans in, listening intently to soulful music streaming from a laptop. As the song ends, someone beside him says, “I love it.”

Growing up in foster care in Los Angeles, Johna Rivers didn’t always get the opportunity to express her creativity. Once she got older, Rivers wanted to offer something for kids like her.

In examining successful programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Children’s Defense Fund suggests in a new report that community-based programs are effective ways to heal trauma experienced by children and youth.

A nationwide poetry contest for youths incarcerated in juvenile facilities has been narrowed down to 15 finalists. It’s the third year for the “Words Unlocked” contest, which is organized by the Maryland-based Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings (CEEAS).

The reform of Washington, D.C.’s formerly atrocious juvenile justice system has been no stranger to controversy. But one thing that most parties agree on is that the educational services offered to juveniles in the secure facility have turned around 180 degrees.

The reform of Washington, D.C.’s formerly atrocious juvenile justice system has been no stranger to controversy. But one thing that most parties agree on is that the educational services offered to juveniles in the secure facility have turned around 180 degrees.